Adele, Rubin an oddly perfect pair

British pop-soul singer Adele hooked up with respected hard-rock-hip hop producer Rick Rubin on her second CD, 21 -- the hottest-selling disc in North America.

An unlikely pair, Adele first met the producing guru in 2008 when she appeared on Saturday Night Live to perform her breakthrough hit Chasing Pavements from her debut disc 19 and he was in the studio. (Sarah Palin was also a guest that night and the show had its best ratings in 14 years.)

Rubin has produced CDs for the likes of Johnny Cash, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica.

"I loved him from the minute I met him. I loved him since I was 15 and Californication came out. I was obsessed with that record," says Adele, 22, channelling the spirit of Lynn Redgrave with her 1960s-inspired glam look. She's relaxing on a Toronto hotel lobby couch with her strawberry hair up in a bun, her big green eyes accentuated by false eyelashes and her long nails painted a pale grey.

"When I met him I was so in awe of him, but I felt so at home with him straight away as well. He's just like that, he's so calming. I never met anyone who's so at peace with (himself) and so at peace with life," Adele says.

"He came to my Hollywood Bowl show and he said, 'You're so different live. You've got to get your live show across on your record.' And I felt like going, 'Do you want to do it, Rick?' But I was like, 'No, I can't say that to Rick Rubin.' He'd be like, 'Do you know who I am?' But I tried to mentally plant the seed."

But then Adele picked up best new artist honours at the 2009 Grammys -- one of two awards that night -- and Rubin made the offer to produce 21 in Malibu for what turned out to be a five-week stint.

"I loved being in the studio with Rick. I hated Malibu," says Adele, who has three Canadian tour dates in May. "I'm hardly a beach babe. I'm too pale for the sun. I'm allergic to it. I get heat rash. I get blisters all over me. The first day it was overcast. I got sunburnt quite badly, which lasted the entire time. But the studio was amazing. It was like the best thing I've ever done. The band was insane. Rick was incredible."

The collaboration yielded career-building results. 21 not only debuted at No. 1 in Canada and in the U.S., but also in 17 other countries. Moreover, it has remained at the top spot in England, where it came out much earlier, for more than seven weeks.

Adele says she was at a loss for words.

"I always thought it was pretty impossible that I'd ever get signed in the UK, but the thought of my music ever travelling in any way always seemed absolutely f---ing impossible. I think (Canada) was like the 19th country (where it went to No. 1). It's been f---ing ridiculous."

Previously, 19 -- which garnered her the first-ever BRITS Critics' Choice Award and was nominated for the Mercury Prize in England -- sold two million copies worldwide.

"Nothing from my first album has sunk in yet," Adele says. "I mean how do you let stuff like this sink in? It's so unlikely. I don't think it'll ever sink in. Very bizarre. The thought of so many people being moved enough to buy my record."

And while Adele's early music influences were the Spice Girls -- she balled her eyes out when she met Emma (Baby Spice) Bunton recently at a Rihanna concert at the Brixton Academy -- it was her "fearless, brave, loyal and patient" mother, only 18 years her senior with "Turkish goddess" looks, who was her role model.

"She's pretty beautiful and I look like my Welsh dad," says Adele with a grin. "I always wanted to be like my mom. And my vision, in terms of my career, it's just in terms of going with what feels right.

"I would never do anything solely for the money. I would never endorse something ... like egg timers and shampoo and s--- like that ... The sound in the studio, I feel it when it's right. I'm not very good at talking about it."

But when it came to writing and recording 21's hit first single, Rolling in the Deep, which has become an anthem for heartbroken girls everywhere, Adele was able to get across the emotion she hoped to convey.

The song was co-written with the album's other producer, Paul Epworth, whose credits include Plan B, Bloc Party, Florence & The Machine, in London.

"I was quite scared by it because it was really different than Chasing Pavements," Adele says. "I kind of shelved it for a year to a year and a half. And then the morning I started my first session with Paul Epworth, the night before I broke up with my boyfriend, who the album's about, I was so upset, I was so angry. I was telling Paul, 'Oh Paul, let's write a ballad. That's all I ever do!' And he was like, 'Absolutely not! I want to write a fierce tune.'

"And I kept going, 'Feel my heartbeat Paul!' And the beat of the song was my heartbeat. I'm such a f---ing drama queen. I was so angry. It just built and built ..."

Since the songs on 21 -- and 19 before it -- were the result of heartbreak, will Adele ever be able to write an album if she's happy? She doesn't seem worried about it.

"I don't have time to write songs (when I'm happy)," she says. "I write songs when the curtains are closed and I'm on my fifth bottle of red wine or something like that. But as I keep evolving as a songwriter, I hope I will learn to articulate my happiness and channel it."

In the meantime, she realizes that without those two relationships going south, she wouldn't have had two hit records on her hands.

"Sometimes I don't know what possesses me to do it because albums are like photographs, they're forever. Maybe it's a good thing I'll be able to look back at my records and see how I've grown as a person. And when I'm old and have kids and grandkids and they're going through their angsty teenage stage I was going through at 19, I can be like, 'Listen to that! That's what grandma was doing when she was 19!' "

BRIEF BIO

Name: Adele Adkins

Born: In Tottenham, north London, on May 5, 1988.

Early Life: Began singing at four and cites the Spice Girls as her first major musical influence.

School: Graduated from the BRIT school in Croydon, England, in 2006, where her classmate was Leona Lewis. After a friend posted online Adele's three-song class project on MySpace, it led to her getting signed by XL Recordings.

Big North American break: As musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 2008. Then-Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin also made a special appearance on the show, which had its best ratings in 14 years.

Hits: Chasing Pavements; Rolling In The Deep

Albums: 19 (2008); 21 (2011)

Honours: In 2009, Adele won two Grammy Awards -- best new artist and best female pop vocal performance -- for Chasing Pavements.